BOUGAINVILLE President Ishmael Toroama says he is disappointed with the national government’s order of debate on the Bougainville referendum and the majority threshold to determine the region’s political future.
“This decision breaches the Melanesian Agreement and undermines the peace process,” Toroama said.
He said the Melanesian Agreement called for international monitoring with United Nations support.
Toroama has since called on the facilitator appointed to support development of the Melanesian Framework to activate that commitment to international monitoring and convene a meeting of international partners, representatives of the international community and the international witnesses to the signing of the Bougainville Peace Agreement (BPA).
This he said was to address the breach by the national government of its commitments under the Melanesian Agreement and to ensure that the process and principles agreed at Burnham were honoured.
In Parliament earlier this month, Bougainville Affairs Minister Manasseh Makiba tabled a draft sessional order and said a vote on the matter is to be conducted by Aug 30.
It was stated the sessional order was the final step in bringing the referendum results to Parliament, but it would require an absolute three quarter majority or 89 of the 118 MPs to ratify the 2019 Bougainville referendum results.
This was initiated prior on June 2, when a report on Bipartisan Parliamentary Committee on Bougainville matters was presented in Parliament by chairman Dr Allan Marat and to ensure all MPs were fully informed before taking the vote.
Toroama said: “The national government’s decision to adopt a draft sessional order on the results of the Bougainville Referendum, without the required consent of the Bougainville House of Representatives Speaker amounts to a breach of the Melanesian Agreement and runs contrary to the principles of respect, good faith and partnership that underpin the BPA,” he said.
The Autonomous Bougainville Government has since questioned why the normal two-thirds majority of MPs needed to ratify the referendum was changed to a three-quarters majority and that it was a crafted government strategy, making it almost impossible for a positive for Bougainville to progress.
Prime Minister James Marape has maintained this threshold is necessary to enact constitutional changes regarding sovereignty and national borders.
“I am disappointed in certain parts of the prime minister’s statements, the order of the debate and the unilateral position on the negotiated majority threshold,” he said.
